Duncan Spencer
Duncan John Spencer
Born: 5 April 1972, Nelson, Lancashire
Major Teams: Kent, Western Australia.
Known As: Duncan Spencer
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast
First-class Debut: Kent v Essex at Maidstone, 1993
Kent 1993 to 1994
Western Australia 1993/94, 2000/01
Schools: Kent Street Senior High School, Perth
Career Statistics:
FIRST-CLASS
(1993/94 - 1994)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 14 16 2 200 75 14.28 0 1 9 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 311 40 1257 34 36.97 4-31 0 0 54.8 4.04
LIST A LIMITED OVERS
(1993 - 2000/01)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 20 11 3 79 17* 9.87 0 0 5 0
O R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 140.3 680 23 29.56 4-35 2 0 36.6 4.83
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
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Profile:
He might only have been short in stature but, by the time that Duncan
Spencer first hit the domestic cricket scene in the early 1990s, few players
in contemporary memory had been able to produce deliveries of such
blistering pace. In his debut first-class season with Kent in 1993, the
English-born right armer made a huge impression, prompting no less an
authority than Sir Vivian Richards (then playing with Glamorgan) to rank him
as possibly the quickest bowler he had ever faced in his illustrious career.
Sadly, Spencer's own career did not hit the heights that such a start might
have promised. Persistent injury problems, headlined by chronic stress
fractures in his back, have not only blunted his effectiveness but have also
ensured that he has not added to the tally of 14 first-class matches
that he played with Kent in 1993 and 1994 and with Western Australia in
1993-94. He continued to play grade cricket around his battles with injury
but his ills were so severe that, at times, he was forced to participate
solely as a batsman. The pattern of frustration was only broken in 2000-01
when a spectacular recovery led to his inclusion in six limited-overs
matches for Western Australia - the state to which his family moved when he
was five years old. While he did not bowl with quite as much pace as he had
generated from his uncomplicated, slinging action in his first appearances
in the Warriors' colours seven years earlier, he played an important role in
helping the state reach a second Mercantile Mutual Cup Final in successive
years. Tragically, though, the effort which lay behind his comeback was
also his undoing. Following the loss to New South Wales in the
competition's deciding match, Spencer tested positive to the banned
substance nandrolone - a substance he had used in an attempt to relieve his
chronic pain. At the end of a much-publicised case in April 2001, he was
outed from elite level cricket for a period of 18 months and thus
inherited the unfortunate legacy of being the first player in Australian
cricket to be found guilty of a drug-taking offence. (John Polack, April
2001)
© 2001 CricInfo Ltd
Last Updated: Tuesday, 30-Jul-2002 00:52:56 GMT
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